The following five companies were selected to present their ideas to our panel of experts and a live audience during the two-hour event:

• Bright Neighbor
• BioAlgene
• Optical Specialist
• Spiritworks Software
• JourneyGym

The panel of experts included Ashleigh Williams from Willamette Venture Group, Eric Pozzo from Oregon Angel Fund, Todd Bauman from Stoel Rives, Carolyn Duncan from Portland Ten, and FundingUniverse’s very own Brock Blake.  Each member of the panel as well as the audience was given play money to invest in the company of their choice.

JourneyGym was chosen as the winner of this event.  Their pitch peaked the interest of all in attendance and as the winners, they were offered the following prizes:

• $500 of legal services from Stoel Rives
• $2500 in funding consulting from FundingUniverse
• 5 Startup Workouts and a Startup Checkup from Portland Ten

All five companies that presented were given the invaluable opportunity to practice pitching their idea as well as get great feedback from the experts.  They were also put in front of Angel Investors and VCs looking for the next big idea.

John from JourneyGym said

“I just wanted to write to thank you for scheduling the . . . Livepitch even this past Wednesday.  We appreciated the opportunity to be involved and were excited to have had JourneyGym win.  We of course look forward to working with you on your evaluation of our fundability as we work to complete our subsequent round of financing.”

The other four companies had similar things to say and all had a great experience at this event.  Stay tuned for info about other Livepitch, Speedpitch, and online Speedpitch events happening in the near future!

Yesterday’s event featured five top-notch companies:

1. Olive Medical – based in Utah
2. 2 Chicks with Chocolate – based in New Jersey
3. Snowlist.com – based in Utah
4. TuneToad – based in Texas
5. Xtreme Whitetail Technologies - based in Iowa

We were excited to see each of the presenters from this month’s event gain meaningful contacts from investors to help them in their fundraising efforts.

If you are an entrepreneur seeking opportunities to pitch to qualified, accredited investors, please register on our home page to be considered as a presenter for our monthly Online Speedpitch Event.

If you are an accredited investor looking for a higher quality of deal flow, click here to register as an investor on FundingUniverse.com and we will ensure that you are invited to participate in our next Online Speedpitch Event.

David is a class guy. In his presentation he briefly mentioned that he discovered that one of his startups was going to fail, so he returned money to his investors before he spent any more of it.  Don’t see that very often.

I loved his emphasis on thriftiness in a startup. Too many entrepreneurs see the raising of capital as a green light to spend like they were a Fortune 500 company. If every entrepreneur agonized over spending $300 on a printer, like David did in his first startup, the world would be a beautiful place.

He also spent a lot of time talking about listening to the market. If your company is failing, it’s not because of a lack of money, bad timing, or problems with the team. It’s probably because the market doesn’t want your product. Listen to your customers and they will tell you how you need to tweak your product to match their needs.

There’s a bunch more in the webinar. Happy listening!

This week’s podcast features execs from the largest and/or most innovative social networking plays on the web.

Here’s the description from the site:

Introduced by AlwaysOn founder Tony Perkins, this panel discussion considers the new opportunities related to the social networking space. Panelists include moderator Charlene Li, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research; Travis Katz, SVP, MySpace International; Dustin Moskovitz, Co-Founder, Facebook; Rich Rosenblatt, CEO, Demand Media; Gina Bianchini, CEO, Ning; Karl Jacob, CEO, Wallop.

Description of the talk from the website:

“Carl Schramm, President of the Kauffman Foundation, examines the vital role of entrepreneurship in the changing economy. He emphasizes how entrepreneurs have a positive influence on the American economy by creating ways to reinvent and innovate the rules of life. For example, half of the jobs created in 2007 are from firms less than five years old. Entrepreneurs teach us about human needs we did not know existed, create jobs that provide security for people, and generate social welfare, he says.“

I had the chance to see Carl speak at an ACA event in NYC last year and came away well inspired. I think you’ll get the same vibe from this address.

They address issues like when to sell your company, the pros and cons of starting a tech company outside of Silicon Valley and other general tips about starting a successful company.  Kawasaki is hilarious and one of the panelists was the original programmer for Where in the World is Carmen San Diego, a game that has changed the life of many a 5th grader.

Check it out here.

(Picture of the founders of Control4 — Will West, Eric Smith, Mark Morgan)

Will has raised more than $280 million in private capital for his 4 ventures. In 1998, he co-founded STSN (now iBAHN), the worldwide leader in broadband services for business travelers. Prior to founding STSN, Will was president, CEO, and co-founder of PHAST Corporation. Under his leadership, PHAST became the leading manufacturer of high-end home automation equipment.

Will serves as chairman of the board of the Utah Capital Investment Corporation (the State of Utah’s “Fund of Funds”). He also serves as chairman of the board for Utah Technology Council (UTC). He was named Utah Valley Entrepreneur of the year in 2004, and is on Utah Business Magazine’s list of the 100 Most Influential People in the state. He was also named the Ernst & Young Master Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2006 in the Utah region.

Enjoy!

John has a passion for angel investing. He is the Chairman of the Angel Capital Association and a long-time angel investor. Whether you are an entrepreneur or an angel investor, you’ll want to listen to this podcast!

Here is John’s BIO from his website:

John May is the managing partner of New Vantage Group, a Vienna, VA firm that innovatively mobilizes private equity into early-stage companies and provides advisory services to both funds and private investors. Mr. May’s experience in private equity capital over the last 15 years ranges from venture capital fund management to angel investing.

Mr. May has been at the forefront of the angel investor movement. In 1991, he co-founded the Investors’ Circle, a national non-profit group of 125 family and institutional investors working to grow the social venture capital industry. Additionally in 1996, he co-founded and became executive director of the Private Investors Network, an angel network sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association, which he led until 2002. John is now Chairman of the newly formed Angel Capital Association (formerly a program of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation), is a lead instructor for their “Power of Angel Investing” seminars, and is co-author of two books, Every Business Needs an Angel, and State of the Art.

Mr. May co-founded The Dinner Club, an investment group of 60 regional angels who collectively invest in regional early stage ventures. A larger private investor pool, the eMedia Club with 75 members, followed it, and in 2000, the Washington Dinner Club with 75 members was started. In 2003, Active Angel Investors, a “pledge” fund was created. New Vantage Group administers all of these groups.

I’d love to get your comments. Who would you like to hear from? What topics would you like discussed?

OK, sorry this one has taken so long to post…but it is finally here!
This podcast is a MUST LISTEN. It includes great content (with details) on angel investors. Oh yeah…of course, it is hosted by Bill Payne and myself.

Also, stay tuned… John May (Chairman of the Angel Capital Association) will be joining us next week.

Til then…enjoy!

In this series, Bill and Brock will discuss the difference between debt capital & equity capital.